Stand By / Bodhisattva

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Saturday speed blogging… reading… after almost finishing up with my morning chores and getting the old man out the door to a gig, I sat down to see if I could catch up with whatever I’ve missed the last few days. Not counting the “disputed” Iran vote, Palin vs Letterman, and countless other (often pointless) headline grabbers.

Cant take it. Hit a wall.

Please go read  Worthington, who is close to sainthood, if you ask me.

Meanwhile, you can follow my crumbs.

Also last night or today, read DD’s best… Winter Rabbit, Robyn, NightProwlKitty, and everybody else, as much as I can. 🙂

Greenwald is talking about The soldier blood on Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham’s hands.

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Huff Post has this … three Guantanamo Bay detainees have been sent home to Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials say three Guantanamo Bay detainees have been sent home to Saudi Arabia.

The Justice Department say the trio will be subject to judicial review in Saudi Arabia before they participate in a rehabilitation program administered by the Saudi government.

With the latest transfer, the U.S. has removed 10 detainees from Guantanamo in the past week, sending four to Bermuda, one to Chad, one to Iraq, and one to face trial in New York City. That leaves 229 detainees still at the U.S. military detention center in Cuba.

The three men sent to Saudi Arabia are Khalid Saad Mohammed, Abdalaziz Kareem Salim Al Noofayaee and Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair.

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From Bloomberg, this. “Yoo, Torture Memo Author, Must Face Padilla’s Claims”

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Last night, I read through almost all the (VERY interesting!) comments in this great piece from emptywheel about the Rachel w Sheldon show:

Marcy’s take on it was spot on same as mine:

This is Sheldon Whitehouse, former Rhode Island Attorney General and US Attorney, explaining how you build a case. This former prosecutor is thinking clearly of establishing a case, and then either pursuing it in SSCI–or referring it, as he suggested with his reference to an executive branch investigation. And in both this exchange and in his speech the other day, Whitehouse told both viewers and his colleagues to stand by.

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Another little mildly interesting because it echoes me!!! (lol) is this one from Huff Post: Palau U’s face culture shock.

When the Uighurs arrive, this balmy island nation will likely seem like an alien planet, with bikini-clad women on white sand beaches, meals of fresh saltwater fish and people snorkeling with dolphins in clear blue water.

Back in the Uighurs’ desert home, camels haul cargo across dusty deserts, cold winds blow off snowy mountains, and women usually cover up with head scarves. Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most remote city from any sea in the world.

Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Germany-based World Uighur Congress, a pro-independence group, was also worried about the detainees’ ability to adapt.

“I’m concerned about their mental health,” Raxit said by phone from Sweden. “They have been detained for a long time and they will need the help of psychologists. I hope the Palau government can provide the counseling and other help they need.”

Raxit added that China probably won’t allow the Uighurs’ families to visit or join them, so the men will experience intense isolation and loneliness. But he added that Palau would be better than Xinjiang, where about 9 million Uighurs live.

“I’m extremely thankful that the U.S. government decided not to hand them over to China,” he said.

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so. The clincher. What did me in this morning. Andy Worthington cross-publishes  here.

Yesterday, in the “Other Voices” section of the Miami Herald, Binyam Mohamed, the British resident and victim of “extraordinary rendition” and torture, who was returned to the UK in February, provided readers with his interpretation of the recent death in Guantánamo of the Yemeni prisoner Muhammad Salih. I’m cross-posting it here because of its significance, as Binyam Mohamed knew Muhammad Salih in Guantánamo, and provides a context for his death that raises some profoundly disturbing questions.

I cant even finish reading it right now. Forget the photos. Just get these words out there, along with so many of the other diligent and faithful voices…

I believe that this was a murder, or unlawful killing, whichever way you look at it. An innocent Muslim man not charged or tried for seven years has lost his life because of illegal incarceration: …  The United States needs to understand how yet another unsatisfactorily explained death in its most infamous prison is going to be interpreted in the Muslim world.

Was detainee’s death a suicide?

By Binyam Mohamed

Miami Herald, June 11, 2009

So, I kinda just made this leap.

Bodhisattva

From http://www.katinkahesselink.ne…

and from http://www.essortment.com/all/…

A Bodhisattva is motivated by pure compassion and love. Their goal is to achieve the highest level of being: that of a Buddha. Bodhisattva is a Sanskrit term which translates as: Bodhi [enlightenment] and sattva [being]. And their reason for becoming a Buddha is to help others. The Bodhisattva will undergo any type of suffering to help another sentient being, whether a tiny insect or a huge mammal. In Shakyamuni Buddha’s ‘Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines’ it states: “I will become a savior to all those beings, I will release them from all their sufferings.” If this sounds familiar to anyone not acquainted with Buddhism, then you only need to think of the example of Jesus Christ, a true Bodhisattva.

When someone first enters the way of the Bodhisattva, they develop Bodhicitta, or, mind of enlightenment. Even as a person strives towards such an exalted goal, they feel as though they are limited by the fact that they, too, are suffering. So that they can be of aid to others, they decide to become Buddhas for a Buddha is capable of unlimited compassion and wisdom. Also, Buddhas are able to relate to all others at whatever level is needed. To those of lesser intelligence, a Buddha will use simpler words; and to those of great intelligence, a Buddha can explain answers in a more exalted language.

By entering the Bodhisattva way, the mind must become enlightened. And so the training begins by generating the 6 Perfections.

The 6 Perfections:

The 6 Perfections are: 1] generosity, 2] ethics, 3] patience, 4] effort, 5] concentration, and 6] wisdom.

So, okay. Now, watch this.

Buddha With Thousand Hands 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Standing by.  Peace.